June 30, 2019

It has been a productive week with district meeting, zone conference, hosting the President for 3 nights and spending Fri. & Sat. in Saioua, Godua and Nakia preparing for the first meetings Sunday with their new leaders.  We also attended a baptism in Issia for seven new members and got our bed fixed.  It collapsed in the middle of the night two weeks ago and we have been sleeping on the mattress on the floor since then.  Tom also fixed the air conditioning in the living room/dining room so the water would not leak onto the floor.  We feel tired and happy.

We started today with the group in Niakia, after dropping the missionaries at the Saioua Branch.  The new group leader has had experience conducting meetings but that was a while ago.  We met in a cinder block home with a cement floor.  The light came from the open door and partly opened windows.  There was a small rough wood table for the sacrament but a misunderstanding about who would bring the bread and water delayed the start for a couple of minutes.  We sat on wood benches and a few chairs.  Eventually we had 22 present.  The hymns were a capella.  The sacrament prayers were clear and correct.  The meeting was simple but very sweet with a talk and a couple of testimonies.  Sue thinks every N. American would be enriched by attending a Sacrament Meeting in such humble circumstances.  At the end Sue took a picture and we shook hands all around again. 

We drove back to the new Branch in Godoua and arrived midway through their Sunday School.  The unfinished house has dirt floors.  The youth and adults filled the main room and spilled out onto the covered balcony.  In a side room 12 primary children were being taught.  They hadn’t organized more than that so far.  The new Branch President gently corrected a doctrinal error made in a comment and all was good.  After the meeting we discussed how to enter the records (without a computer) for the new members who were baptized yesterday and confirmed today.

We returned then to the Saioua Branch expecting only to see the missionaries, but the new Branch Council was meeting.  All the new auxiliary presidents had been called and were present, along with 3 new branch missionaries.  Wow!  The new Pres. did a great job in that meeting, invited all the auxiliary presidents to speak, and everyone left feeling motivated and energized to go teach and invite.  We have great confidence that things will move much faster now in this branch, with callings for everyone, lots of training, and accountability.  The new president has served as branch president before and understands how to lead.

We could not be more pleased with the progress that is being made, both in the organizations and in the lives of those who participate.  There is this interesting quote from page 197, Insights from a Prophet’s Life - Russell M. Nelson, by Sherri Dew:
When later asked what he learned from the assignment to open the countries in Eastern Europe for preaching the gospel, particularly in light of the many stops and starts, failed meetings, and ups and downs, Elder Nelson replied simply: “ The Lord likes effort. He could have said to Moses, ‘I’ll meet you halfway.’ But Moses had to go all the way to the top of Mount Sinai. He required effort from Moses and Joshua and Joseph Smith and from all the subsequent Presidents of the Church. He requires effort from bishops and stake presidents and elders quorum presidents. There is always a test.  Are you willing to do really hard things?  Once you’ve shown you’re willing to do your part,  He will help you.”
 

June 23, 2019 Godoua Branch is born

It has been a great week!  Yesterday in Saioua Tom was invited to take part in the interviews to select the new branch presidents for the branch division that happened today.  President Sherman also announced that in three weeks the Issia District will be created and will include these two branches, the Issia Branch and the Zoukougbeu Branch.  It was a great review for him to see all the men that we have been working with for the past five months or less and to consider their strengths and also their needs for leadership.  And participating with the mission president and his counselor in the selection was a spiritual high reminiscent of similar experiences in the past.

Picture of those who stayed long enough to have it taken!

 Today in sacrament meeting the two new branch presidencies were sustained, along with 6 new Elders.  The outgoing president will likely have a role in the district leadership.  The two new presidents are both returned missionaries but they are not young.  They will do a lot of teaching and training.  While it is exciting to see numeric growth in membership and units, the most important growth is the spiritual aspect that happens in the home when families are studying “Come Follow Me”, holding Family Home Evening, and preparing go to the temple.  That is what will lay the foundation for a future stake in the area and a future temple in Daloa - though those things are a long way off.

Branch President of Saioua, and wife

Mother of the new Branch President

Br. President of Godoua, and wife,

We also had a great phone call from Pres. and Sr. Assard with whom we served in the Accra Temple.  They sounded wonderful and are busy organizing their home after being gone for almost 5 years to serve the temple.  A few of the pioneers in this area remember them from the very early days of the Church in Côte d’Ivoire.  We hope to see them sometime - but Abidjan is outside our mission so perhaps on the way home.

Primary child taking his chair to the next meeting

While Tom was doing interviews, Sister Sherman and I did training for the women. We spent about 3 hours with them teaching everything from Principles of Gospel Leadership in the handbook , to a new hymn and how to conduct, read a key signature  and tempo numbers  plus how to teach a lesson.  The music and the lesson were mine. We thought Tom would be there to translate but he wasn’t so I just did the best I could in French.  I am sure that all my tenses were not correct but each sister said she understood and they were excited enough that they shared what they  learned with Pres. Sherman. This is basically what the lesson was about:             
           PREPARER A L’AVANCE
           INVITER A PARTICIPER—small group activity to form inspired questions, plus posters for people to hold
            TEMOIGNER
             INVITER A AGIR
 It was the first anything I have taught since being in Cote d’Ivoire and almost felt like my old self. I do love to teach.

The elders who come from Issia.

This week we tried roasting peanuts in their shells. It takes a long time—boiling in salted water and roasting in the oven off and on so they will dry but not burn. I also made another batch of bissap which we quite enjoy.  [Dried hyacinth with pineapple and fresh ginger]. We also went to a restaurant this week - the first time in Daloa in 5 months except when the president invited us to a hotel where they were staying. We are getting very used to hosting the Pres. and his wife who now stay with us each time they are in Daloa . We will have them 3 nights in the following week.

Happy Father's Day - June 16, 2019 Only Good News!

The weather is changing!  We are heading into the rainy season here, which means that it is often overcast and we get more rainstorms, also more misty drizzly from time to time.  Also, it is now officially cool weather.  I saw several people wearing hoodies yesterday and a sister missionary had on a hooded fur trimmed sweater.  That is because it gets all the way down to 78 F, or about 25 C, in the morning.  It feels so comfortable when the high temps are only 88F, or about 31 C.  Yesterday morning there was even a fog about 200 feet up.

We are very excited with the announcement today that “our” branch in Saioua will be divided next week to create a branch in Godoua.  When we first arrived almost 5 months ago, average attendance was about 60.  Today, including the branch and the two groups, it was 120.  Much of that growth is activation work done by members and some is of course new members and friends.  It is a wonderful thing to see the enthusiasm of so many to hear and share the message of the restored church.  Yesterday in Saioua the Elders’ Quorum held an activity to help prepare new members to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.  It was well-attended and the quorum president did an excellent job!

Training meeting

Future missionaries

Yesterday and today have been graduation day for our son Neal, from the Stanford Graduate School of Business MSx program.  His immediate and extended family are very happy for his accomplishment.  He is on his way to Baja to survey and hopefully put some ink on paper to manage a project for shrimp farming, mangrove restoration, and agroforestry.  Pretty amazing stuff for us parents!

As it is Father’s Day today, it is good to reflect on the great fathers Sue and I both had.  They came through the depression and WWII, both born of immigrant parents [from the US] on the Alberta prairie (well, actually in houses but you know what we mean).  Their service throughout life to country, church, community, and family, thanks to the support of their wives, set great examples for their posterity.  They were not perfect by any means, nor did they claim to be, but they kept moving ahead and learning and growing right to the end.  They will be even more interesting when we get to meet and converse with them again.

 

 

 

 

When the clothesline is full, you just use the roof!

A game of checkers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking out potential meeting sites

June 9, 2019

When we first arrived in our apartment here, of the 3 toilets present, 2 were missing the conventional seats.  So we requested and had installed two new toilet seats.  They were not sturdy however, and within one or two sittings the plastic fittings that held them in place had cracked.  We quickly adapted to doing without, unless we wanted the additional comfort of the half bath which had a sturdy seat.  Neuton’s first law of motion being what it is, (a body at rest tends to remain at rest) things have stayed like that for a while.  This week, however, it was time for a change.  So I walked into a kind of hardware store on main street and asked (no luck) and then started the journey walking up the street inquiring about toilet seats.   You can meet some very nice people asking about toilet seats, but they always pointed somewhere else. We knew there was a hardware store store not far from our apartment and yes they had them and even had the sturdy kind.  So, miracle of  miracles, we now have toilet seats in the apartment.  We’re feeling very pampered …

Today was the first Sacrament meeting of the group in Niakia.  The meeting was held in the same home where the church started in that area several years ago.  When the mission president at the time came from the big city to organize a branch, it was decided that the branch should be 10 km away in the much larger town.  Many who had been active couldn’t get there due to the cost, so we have members there who haven’t attended for several years.  We had 16 present, including some visitors, and it was a good meeting so we consider it a good start.  Several men decided that they should go visiting through the village after the meeting to tell those who could have come what they missed.  We love these people!

The new group at Niakia

I [Sue] finished the B of M in French this week. Our president challenged us to be done the end of June. Studying the Book of Mormon is one of my favorite things. I am curious about the many roles that the gentiles play in the preparation for the second coming . That is what I am studying now.  Tom has shown me how to use notebooks on my iPad so I am keeping the references that are especially meaningful.  I am also reading Preach My Gospel in French aloud so Tom can correct my pronunciation.

I am hoping to take a short walk tomorrow—perhaps one or two miles. It has been 10 days and I am not limping much. If I still have pain, I will rest for a few more days.

First aid with a bag of frozen peas

This week was our 47th wedding anniversary. We posted one wedding picture on Tom’s facebook and a recent picture with Elder Belley. We attended a baptism of 4 people in Issia and headed to Daloa about 2 o’clock. There was not a place to celebrate so we made ham and pineapple pizza at home and were happy that Tom could do family history while I read a book about Jerusalem.  Such party people!

A very well-tended garden

 

June 2, 2019

 

There are many people we meet whose stories break our hearts. Friday we were in Godua visiting with a man who has been a member for a year whose wife left him with 2 sons and moved back to the big city.  She did not want anything to do with the church.  Tom spent half an hour talking to him about eternal families.  He told the brother about how my Dad met his second wife and quoted D&C 82 :10   “ I the Lord am bound when you do what I say “.  We encouraged him to come to church and to be a patient father.  He asked a profound question - how do I become a Christian? (see more below).  He did come to the meetings today!

The young missionary we were with today is from a part of the Congo that has an ebola outbreak at the moment.  He joined the church in his late teens and 3 years later was called to serve in Cote d’Ivoire.  He told us that his mother had died and when he joined the church his family kicked him out (fists were involved).  However his mother appeared to him in a dream and told him that he was doing the right thing and to continue.  He has no family or friends to go back to and is trying to decide what to do and where to go when his service is over in July.

I have been doing floor exercises since Wed. when I injured my heel.  I had been walking about a mile when I took a step and pain shot through my heel.  Tried to phone Tom but he had left for his run.  I hobbled home and sat outside our gate reading scriptures on my phone until he arrived.  We iced it and started me on Ibuprofen.  Most of the week, I have been lying in bed reading, listening to conference talks, and trying not to put weight on it.  Ben, I have never had an injury before so found it hard to relate.  It is frustrating but I did walk over 90 miles in the month of May.   Perhaps tomorrow I will make it down to the rice fields and back.

Sunrise at a lake Sue walks by almost daily

Today is my mother’s 112th  birthday.   I have not seen her for 56 years.  One of the things I am most looking forward to in the next life is meeting with her, adult to adult, and comparing experiences and personalities.  She was probably smarter than I but I still feel we will have a lot in common.

This is Tom, responding to the question in the first paragraph above.  Without writing a book to answer it, this will of necessity be incomplete.  The shortest answer is that we become a Christian when we take upon ourselves the name of Christ.  I thought about my own family name, and what a blessing it is that my father was an honorable man who went about doing good.  It is a responsibility to bear well his name and pass it onto the next generations so that it is respected and honored.  Even more significant is to become a son or daughter of Christ, as King Benjamin explained in Mosiah 5:7.  We renew the covenant of baptism in our hearts weekly and take the sacrament as a sign that we have done so, to take His name on us, remember Him, and keep his commandments.  How do we bring honor to His name so that it is revered and respected because of our example?

Ultimately we become a Christian as we grow from grace to grace to become more and more like Jesus Christ.  Continually striving to acquire His characteristics and qualities is an eternal pursuit.  It is the path of the disciple and ultimately the path of eternal life.  What steps do I take today to move along that path?  Who can I help?  What would the Savior do if He were here? 

I love questions like the one the brother asked which help focus our thoughts and efforts on the things that are most important.  Have a very blessed week!

Girls at the market

Bath time

 

Members of the Saioua Branch with a new baby